Front end loaders are powered vehicles running on wheels or tracks having hydraulically operated upper and lower pairs of arms extending from the front of the vehicle. The arms operate in tandem in a linked parallelogram arrangement and perform useful work by means of attached implements such as a bucket, scoop, plow, fork, or the like. It is often desirable to change implements and quick couplers have been developed for this purpose. Such coupler systems use a male master mounted on the upper and lower arms of a front end loader together with female coupler attachments affixed to an implement.
The problem with prior systems has been that they are bulky and they extend the effective attachment points of the implement beyond the original front end loader arm attachment points, thereby adversely affecting the loader's performance. Front end loaders are designed for a certain performance taking best advantage of the loader's weight and power. Prior art in this field shows couplers being designed about the implements. The present design is based upon maintaining vehicle performance. Best machine performance is maintained by a coupler design which links an implement to the arms of the loader at or near the original linkage points. Thus, performance specifications are not altered or reduced by extension of the original linkage points due to the intervening bulk of the coupler. Stability, tipping load, usable reach, break-out force, and dump height all are reduced by extending the loader's lever arms by a bulky coupler, but not so with the invention herein.